Survivors of suicide: Family begins local group to provide acceptance, support

Greg Olson, who committed suicide at age 13, is the inspiration for Muskegon's new Survivors of Suicide support group.

MUSKEGON, MI -- They say they’ll wait as long as they have to to provide support for others who are “survivors of suicide.”

Since October, Gretchen Olson, her husband and their daughter have gone to St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Muskegon on the third Monday of the month. They have gone there in memory of their son and brother, Greg Olson, who committed suicide at the age of 13.

They have gone with the intentions of supporting others and sharing in the grief of losing a loved one in such a horrific way.

“So far, it’s just been us,” Olson said. “We’ll just keep going back until somebody comes.”

Olson said she promised her son, at his visitation after he died, to “make him as proud of me as I was proud of him.”

S.O.S.

• What: Survivors of Suicide support group for those who loved people who have taken their own lives.

• When: The third Monday of each month from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

• Where: The old school at St. Michael's Catholic Church, 1716 Sixth St. at the corner of West Dale Avenue.

• Info: For more information, call Gretchen Olson at (231) 955-8094.

That was back in May 2012. Greg had been an eighth-grader at Mona Shores Middle School when he inexplicably shot himself in the family’s home. He was the second eighth-grade boy at the school to kill himself in two years.

Olson didn’t know exactly how she was going to make her son proud. But after discovering the acceptance of the Survivors of Suicide support group in Grand Rapids, she believes she’s found a way.

Olson had gone to the Grand Rapids group just a month after Greg’s death. Arriving late, she said her embarrassment quickly eased. There was no judging, no shame -- just acceptance.

“For the first time, I got to say Greg’s name and what happened to him,” she said. “It was so nice to be in a room with people who didn’t know him and wanted to know about him. They already knew how I was feeling.

“It was the first place I walked in and didn’t feel like I was a three-headed person.”